spirit of the LORD

37:1 spirit of the LORD. This may have been more than a vision, though it certainly was at least that. Ezekiel was “carried out” by the Spirit, then “set down” in a valley filled with dry bones. Perhaps there actually was such a valley near Jerusalem (Hinnom, or gehenna) where the Babylonians had unceremoniously cast the multitude of dead Israelites after the siege and slaughter. In any case, the bones symbolized the spiritually dead nation of Israel, in their graves in all the nations.